Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the Muslim terrorist shooting at the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper in Paris "savagery." Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Wednesday’s shooting at the Paris offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, in which at least 12 people were killed by Muslim terrorists, “brutal acts of savagery.”

“The attacks of radical Islam know no boundaries— these are international attacks and the response has to be international. The terrorists want to destroy our freedoms and our civilization. … If we stand together and if we are not divided, then we can defeat this tyranny that seeks to extinguish all our freedoms,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu also expressed the sympathy “that all the citizens of Israel feel for the people of France and for the grieving families,” reminding the world that Israel has experienced similar attacks “time and again; we know the pain but we also know the resolution with which free societies can defeat terror—however dreadful, however threatening.”

U.S. President Barack Obama called the shooting “cowardly evil attacks.”

“The fact that this was an attack on journalists, [an] attack on our free press, also underscores the degree to which these terrorists fear freedom of speech and freedom of the press,” Obama said in a statement from the White House during a meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden.

As other world leaders have continued issuing messages of support for the French people and condemning the attack, French authorities have increased security around Paris while in pursuit of the shooters, who are still at large. Crowds have been gathering in central Paris, with many expressing solidarity with banners stating “#JeSuisCharlie” (I am Charlie).

“There is possibility of other attacks and other sites are being secured,” said French police union official Rocco Contento.